Week 8 - Nanotech and Art

This week I discovered through the readings, lectures, and TED talks how Nanotechnology and art work together to become the new medium of art. Through the development of new computer software’s and technology we can view art in a different way than we used to be able to.

For example a form of nanotechnology art that I thought was very amazing is Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau’s invisible sculpture that they created. This sculpture is only accessible through touch, which is a whole new concept in itself. Their sculpture idea is by wearing a magnetic ring so you think you are touching a physical object, but in reality you are only feeling the magnetic force the ring is propelling. This idea is very innovative because it uses not just artistic skills and background but incorporates science and technology as well. This medium of art is becoming more common especially with the exponential growth we have had in technology over the past couple of years.

We also see art in molecular programming and nanotechnology of DNA. In Paul Rothemund’s TED talk he explains in how strands of DNA he can make alternative forms of art, like he did with the smiley face, or it can even be possible to make a person drawing out of long and short DNA strands. He explained also that you can encode words into DNA. Dr Gimzewski explained in his lecture that one of his students also wrote UCLA with the scanning tunneling microscope. Gimzewski also stated "Astronomers look at stars and discover something new. We looked at atoms and saw a landscape you can't imagine."

Art is progressively getting more and more technologically advanced as time goes on, and as computing programs keeps growing exponentially.

Dr. Gimzewski

DNA Strand

Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau

Works Cited

“Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau." Viewing Space. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://www.viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w05/somm_mign.htm>.

“DNA folding, in detail." TED. Web. 30 May. 2015.

<http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_rothemund_details_dna_folding?language=en>.

“DNA." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA>.

“James Gimzewski." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gimzewski>.

“Paul W. K. Rothemund." Wikipedia. Web. 30 May. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_W._K._Rothemund>.